Christopher Nolan told EW that while it was pretty much certain at the point of Cillian Murphy's Batman audition that Christian Bale would play the role in "Batman Begins," watching the actor in the role sparked Nolan's idea for another crucial role in the film. In fact, when Murphy put on the Batsuit, "There was just an electric atmosphere in the crew when [he] started to perform," Nolan told EW.
"We did two scenes — there was a Bruce Wayne scene and a Batman scene — and I made sure that executives came down and watched what you doing on set," Nolan recalled for the publication, motioning to Murphy. "Everybody was so excited by watching you perform that when I then said to them, 'Okay, Christian Bale is Batman, but what about Cillian to play Scarecrow?' There was no dissent."
While Oscar nominated actor Liam Neeson was cast as Ra's al Ghul — the other main villain in "Batman Begins" — allowing Nolan to choose Murphy to play Scarecrow was a groundbreaking move by the film's studio, Warner Bros. After all, throughout "Batman" movie history, the villains were traditionally played by high-profile actors. "All the previous Batman villains had been played by huge movie stars: Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Carrey, that kind of thing," Nolan told EW. "That was a big leap for them and it really was purely on the basis of that test."
"Oppenheimer" opens in theaters Friday, July 21, 2023.
